ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Thursday while pointing to depleting water resources in the country called for effective measures at provincial and federal level for ensuring optimum utilization besides conservation and scientific management of water resources to cater to future needs of the growing population of the country.
Chairing a meeting here at the PM Office on draft National Water Policy, the Prime Minister called for putting in place a robust framework to conserve freshwater, which was a finite resource and was progressively becoming scarce.
The Prime Minister directed that the draft policy be shared with the provinces for their consideration and early finalization. He emphasized that buy-in from the provincial government was essential and directed Deputy Chairman Planning Commission to engage the provincial governments for their consensus before bringing the matter before the Council of Common Interests, a statement from the PM Office said.
Minister for Interior and Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Sartaj Aziz, Minister for Power Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, concerned federal secretaries and senior officials were present during the meeting.
Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Sartaj Aziz briefed the meeting on proposed National Water Policy that would put in place a policy framework for ensuring effective management and conservation of existing water resources, improving availability, reliability, and quality of fresh water to meet critical municipal, agricultural, energy and food security needs besides addressing the environmental concerns.
The draft policy addresses critical issues of reduction in wastage of water, enhancement of water storage capacity from 14 MAF to at least 28 MAF through a network of small, medium and large-sized storage reservoirs, increasing efficiency of water use by producing more crop per drop, gradual replacement and refurbishing of irrigation infrastructure and setting up of realistic and achievable targets in consultation with the provinces.
The Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of Deputy Planning Commission and his team for formulating the much-needed policy framework for effective conservation, utilization and management of existing water resources.
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